


Rewritten: Remember

by mimizilla



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Childhood, Childhood Friends, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-18
Updated: 2019-11-18
Packaged: 2021-02-12 19:37:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21481726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mimizilla/pseuds/mimizilla
Summary: Rewritten: Young Shepard meets Garrus on a turian war ship after her colony is attacked by slavers. They become good friends over night, but fate drags them apart. What happens when that same fate brings them back together many years later?
Relationships: Female Shepard/Garrus Vakarian
Comments: 14
Kudos: 94





	1. Chapter 1

The sun was setting again as it had done everyday, leaving the sky pretty shades of pinks and oranges. It would rise again the next day and she would be up again to watch it, watching the colors reignite like flames. Her omnitool was out and ready, recording the sunset like she tried to do every single night, trying to get that perfect angle so that she could gaze upon it again from the comfort of her home instead of being bitten by all the pesky bugs that were scared away by the light and only came out during the beautiful sunset. She never seemed to get that perfect angle though.

The grass tickled her toes and a small gust of wind blew her hair away from her face. The air smelled like the very nature that was around her. Of the trees, grass, dirt and everything else. That's what the air smelled of and she took in that fragrance like her life depended on it.

Her mother called out to her, she heard it, but she didn't move. Dinner would be cold again tonight, yes, but she just had to watch the sky from her favorite place. They wouldn't forcibly come get her and drag her back into the house to eat, they knew she would come in on her own accord eventually. Her parents rather enjoyed her hobby of going out and just gazing at the sky.

They were the type of people who believed technology would be the end of all organic races and felt that spending all their time on electronics would only kill them sooner, they often emphasised this by mentioning what happened to the quarians, so when they saw that young Jane had taken to running out into the grassy meadows and gazing at the sky, they didn't resent it. They embraced it and even though it went against their beliefs, they still bought Jane an omni tool to take pictures of the sky.

The sun had finally gotten lost behind the mountains and would not be back again until early morning, meaning that Jane would finally be able to go back into her home and eat her cold supper. 

Walking alone in the dark never scared her. She made sure that she never went too far that she wasn't able to see her house anymore and everyone in the colony knew everyone, it was a small colony and very close knit. Crime on Mindoir was a rarity, but that wasn't to say it didn't happen. It did and the person was dealt with, but it was never anything too serious. So she never worried and her parents never worried and she would come home late.

The grass was tickling her toes as she walked and she was swatting bugs away from her arms. The lights in her home were still on, meaning that her parents were still wide awake. She couldn't wait to tell them of the colors she'd seen tonight, even though they'd heard her ramble on about it a million times. They never ceased to listen and even helped her wake up in the morning to watch the sun rise.

The wind picked up a bit more, something that wasn't really abnormal seeing as it was right in the middle of spring, but something was off about this wind. She noticed at first that it didn't smell right. It smelled like oil and metal, not like nature that she was used to. The tall grass that was up to her knees had started to blow against her legs and a loud sound entered the atmosphere, it was easily recognizable. The sound of a ship engine, she knew it well.

She as well as the other colonists knew better though. Mindoir was an agricultural colony, so ships would often stop by to pick up whatever crops had been grown to sell, but it was far too late at night for a ship to show up. Ships usually came in very early in the morning, around the time that she was coming back inside after gazing at the sky, watching the sun rise. They never came any later than that and they most definitely never came on a weekend, only Mondays and Thursdays.

The ship landed and she wasn't the only one who was intrigued about where it was coming from. Her neighbors and fellow colonists all came outside to see what exactly was landing at the docking bay. They were all dressed for bed, some even looking as if they'd just woken up. It was then that she realized that she did not recognize this ship.

The same ship didn't come every time, but they usually looked similar. Usually they were repurposed alliance vessels or old ships brought back to life by handy people. This ship just looked off to her. The architecture was wrong. It didn't look human made. It didn't look good at all to be honest.

It was big, far too big to be carrying just fruits and vegetables and it was filthy. It looked like it had never been washed before, dried mud and other unknown substances caked the sides of the ship. The armorer plating on this ship was a dirty brown and the smell of oil was thicker on it the closer it got to landing, oil and rust.

The engine sputtered to a stop and it was quiet, too quiet. The wind didn't whistle and no one spoke. She supposed that if she were to drop a pebble, all eyes would be on her in a flash. But she didn't do anything, because for some reason, she was scared.

She heard this thumping, it was rythmithic and tribal and she could hear it even if she covered her ears. It was her heart. Her heart was beating like a drum and she couldn't do anything to stop it. Her mouth was dry, but her palms felt like they were dripping with sweat. It just didn't make any sense to her.

She wanted to just continue home and eat, her stomach was burning with hunger, but her body refused to move. She was stuck there, frozen in place place as she watched the hatch of the ship open. Out stepped a large ground of batarians, all of which were carrying weapons. Some of the guns they held were bigger than her.

Suddenly, one of her neighbors looked back at her. An elderly woman that Jane often helped around the house. The woman knew about her hobby, everyone did, and when she made eye contact with her, she mouthed something to her.

Even though it was dark and even though she was a fair distance away from the rest of the colony, she could still read her lips. Run, she was telling her to run.

So, Jane did just that. Her once frozen body snapped into motion like ice being crushed and she turned on her heels and ran in the opposite direction, as far away from the colony as she could. 

She was tired and hungry and she could barely see. Maybe it was the wind blowing into her eyes, maybe it was the tiredness that was quickly sneaking up on her because she wasn't one to exercise, or maybe it was the tears because Batarians with guns landed on her colony. She knew what Batarians with guns did. Her parents told her stories about them all the time. Stories about how they would enslave just about any living thing they could get their hands on. And this was it.

It took everything in her to hold in the sobs when she heard the rapid gunfire of their weapon, the sounds of glass breaking, the people screaming out in terror. Her face was scrunched up and soaked in tears because all she could do was listen and run.

Deep in the grass, her foot got caught on something hard and she felt like it shattered. She screamed out in pain as her body was thrown to the ground, her head hitting the ground with a bit of a bounce, and she lie there. The grass was tall enough to hide her from anyone that was passing by, but her foot. It ached so horribly. When she tried to put some of her weight on it, she felt back down and screamed out in pain. She couldn't move, she was stuck here in this tall patch of grass, hoping that the slavers wouldn't venture to far out from the colony to find her. 

She lie there for what felt like hours. The grass was making her itchy and her stomach wouldn't stop rumbling, begging her for food. Her foot was throbbing, the pain was almost unbearable, almost comparable to the gut wrenching pain she was feeling in her head, but not once did she make a sound. She bit her lip and she help back her cries. Her cries of hunger, her cries of pain, and her cries of fear for her colony.

The sounds of destruction died down after a while and she lifted her head to get a peak at her colony. She could barely make anything out, but she could see the ship. It was taking off, probably with her parents and everyone else inside, leaving her all alone.

She wanted to go back, to see if anyone was still there that could help her, but she could barely move. She was so tired, it was a struggle to keep her eyelids open. Jane wanted nothing more than to go back home and rest in her own bed. She wanted to tell her mother and father that she loved them, she wanted to eat that cold dinner, but she couldn't.

Maybe if she slept, she'd wake up and this all would have been nothing more than a bad dream, that's what she told herself at least. It was a horrible idea, but it was the only thing she could think to do. Her back ached from the hard ground, but she closed her eyes and allowed herself to rest.

It was another few hours before she heard the sound again. The sound of a ship landing and the passengers exiting. The colony was so quiet that she could hear it even though she was so far away.

Her eyes shot open and her body tensed. Her dreams were unpleasant, but now she was living the nightmare all over again. It was them, it was the batarians, she knew it. They'd come back for her, they knew she was there and they were going to enslave her. Only, they called out to her.

"Hello!" She heard the voice bellow across the colony, "Is anyone still here?" 

The footsteps spread and she heard them, going through the houses and looking for people. Did they always do this? Come back to the planet afterwards for stragglers? She hoped not. She was praying to every god she could that it was someone else out there, one else. Her heart was set on the Alliance.

It took everything in her to muster the courage to look out into the colony. The ship was nowhere near she same as the ones the batarians had. It was smaller and much sleeker in design, she could tell even from this distance. The silhouettes that were out looking for humans were taller and bulkier than that of any batarians. They were turians. She'd never seen a turian in person before, but she recognized that shape from shows and vids she would watch.

With a hoarse voice she called out to them, "Help! I'm here! Please." Hearing the sound of her own voice made her tear up, she hadn't heard something in so long. She kept calling out to them, crying, begging them to come find her until two large turian males were right next to her.

They whispered something amongst each other, then looked down at her. She tensed a bit from them, having not seen a turian in person, they were a lot taller than what she initially expected. A little too tall to be exact.

One of the turians bent down so that they were at eye level, or as close to eye level as they could get. She was still sitting and even bending down his height was still looming over her. 

He saw the fear in her eyes and his face seemed to soften. She couldn't read his expression, his face was so different than hers. What was he thinking? Did he want to harm her as well?

"What's your name?" He asked her. His voice was funny, it didn't sound like it did on vid screens, it sounded like two people were talking at once.

She looked up at the other turian who was still standing, his eyes placed firmly on her. He nodded for her to respond and she spoke softly.

"Jane. My name is Jane,"

"Well Jane, My name is Cercus and this is my good friend Quincus," the taller turian nodded when his name was spoken, "We both work for the military. Do you know what the military is?"

She nodded slowly, his tone was condescending, but she didn't care. They were here to help, she couldn't care less how they talked to her.

"Then you know we're here to help you, right?" 

"Yes," she said with another slow nod.

"Can you stand?"

She shook her head, "My foot. I hurt it really bad, I can't walk." 

Quincus drew his gun as Cercus bent down further to lift her up. His arm was around her waist and his other beneath her knees, carrying her against his chest, but she couldn't stop looking at the gun he'd drawn. Did they plan on putting her down like a horse when it's leg was broken? She hoped not and she knew they wouldn't, but somehow her body still tensed when she looked at his gun. It made her think of her parents. 

She prayed to every god that they were okay, but she knew that in this situation, there was no okay. They were either shot to death mercilessly by batarian slavers or being taken away right now on that filthy ship to god knows where. She couldn't tell which was worse as they both seemed equally bad. 

They passed by her home on the way towards their ship. The windows on the ground floor were all broken and even though she strained her eyes, she couldn't see anything through the darkness. Her parent's bodies could've been in there and she would never know.

The turians brought her up to the ship and all eyes were on her. She'd never seen so many turians before and she knew that relations between the two races was tense. She wondered what they planned to do with her or if any of the other humans had made it out, but she never asked. She felt like she couldn't ask. Any answer from them would've made her burst into tears right there.

They carried her down a flight of stairs, all this while Cercus and Quintus chatted casually amongst themselves. They talked about some kind of game and wagers and things like that. Her brain felt a bit fuzzy so she couldn't make much out, everything sounded so muffled, like she had pillows in her ears and she was so tired, she did everything in her power not to fall asleep in his arms.

She found herself being placed down on a bed in what appeared to be a med bay. It was a lot firmer than the beds that she had at home and she supposed that it was a turian thing, so she didn't complain. This hard bed was far more comfortable than the ground she'd slept on not to long ago. She'd take it over the ground any day.

She nuzzled herself into the thin blankets, preparing herself to go to sleep, but was quickly awakened by another voice, this one female.

Cercus and Quinus were already exiting the room when another turian approached her. Her plated were a light brown, almost pink, and her face was covered in white, elaborate clan markings.

"I'm sorry to say this, but you can't sleep just yet," she spoke in a soothing voice, the way her mother talked whenever she stubbed her toe or scraped her knee.

"Am I in trouble?" She asked. The words just spilled out and she couldn't stop them, she didn't know what was wrong with her.

"Of course not," the turian with the soft voice said, "I just want to take a look at your foot, I heard you hurt it pretty bad out there."

Jane nodded slowly, "I hit it on a rock when I was running."

The turian sucked air through her teeth, mimicking pain, "Ouch. That must've hurt. Let me get a look at it."

She leaned over Jane's foot and Jane took the time to glance at it too. She hadn't seen it since she'd hit it and the pain was still throbbing.

It looked swollen and a bit purple where it had been hit directly. It hurt to even move her toe a little bit and she couldn't put the slightest bit of pressure on it without feeling like it was going to kill her. It was concluded that she'd broken it pretty badly in the fall and the turian doctor did her best to put Jane in a makeshift cast until she could go see human doctor.

She didn't ask where she would see a human doctor, a side of her didn't care. She was finally out of the storm, all of the adrenaline had long since worn off, she was tired, sad. The surrealism had left with the adrenaline and it hit her like a bus, everything she'd known was gone. Her life, her family, her home. Everything. Gone.

She sobbed after realizing this. She sobbed until there was nothing left to cry out. Her eyes were as dry as the desert and all she could do was heave. And with soft cries, she fell asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Just up the stairs, a young turian boy was snooping around places that he wasn't supposed to be. He'd snuck into the armory, a room they would never have let him in to begin with, and he took the time to admire all the guns they had. It was like they had them on display, begging him to look at them, to hold them.

For most other Turian fledglings, Hierarchy Serve was the worst. He'd heard older boys complaining about it all his life and he was fearful of what he might end up having to do.

Hierarchy Serve was the mandatory community service that every Turian had to do when they became of age. Of age being twelve to fourteen years old. Usually their jobs were chosen at random and very rarely did anyone get to do anything interesting. It was mostly things like a month of janitorial service on the presidium or a few hours a day of helping accountants organized their files. 

He tried to do everything in his power to just not serve, but that didn't seem to be possible. His fifteenth birthday was right around the corner and a few of the higher ups had begun to note that he'd yet to serve. With gritted teeth, he approached them, his mind set on begging them to just let him out of it, to do him a favor just this once.

That's when they said it: Two months serve on a military vessel.

His mandible went slack when he heard them and for the longest time, he could've sworn that he just wasn't hearing them right. He asked them to repeat themselves and they did, saying the same thing again. Two months serve on a military vessel.

It was the coolest one he'd heard so far! He was so excited, he nearly fell from his plating. He didn't even know that military vessel serve was a thing, but he wasn't complaining. Garrus thought about how much fun he would have rubbing his cool job in the face of all his peers, especially his friend who bragged about being able to patrol with a C-sec officer. 

And it was all thanks to his father. Apparently his father was able to pull a few strings and he also just happened to be friends with the Captain of an active vessel. Garrus couldn't thank his father enough, but he also couldn't help wondering if this friend of his had ever been brought up in conversation before. Although, he was too excited to ask. He was too busy jumping for joy and even briefly, he saw his father smile at him. This was going to be the best time of his life.

Or so he thought. 

Garrus was quickly bombarded with mundane tasks such as cleaning the bathroom or organizing medical files the minute he stepped foot on the ship. It was the exact same stuff he could've been doing back on Palaven or the Citadel, the only difference was that he was now doing it on a moving frigate that often landed for recon missions.

No matter how much he begged, they never let him go out on a mission with them or let him hold one of the guns. They told him that they didn't want to put the life of a fledgling in danger, even though it would be only a few weeks before his birthday, making him of age to join the military, and his father taught him to shoot all the time at home. 

He knew that this was all his father's doing. That man was hellbent on keeping him from joining the military and a potential spectre status, he knew it. This was another one of his tricks, another one of his plans to keep him enroute to C-sec.

But Garrus had a few tricks up his sleeve as well. He only had one week left before his serve was over and he was free to go back home. He refused to go home without doing something cool, he needed a good story to tell his friends, something to excite them. 

So, he broke into the armory to snap a picture of the coolest gun ever. No one used it, so he never got to see it in person, so his only chance to see it was to go to the armory. It being the HMWSR X, a spectre only sniper rifle and honestly one of the coolest guns ever. He barely got the chance to gaze upon it when the armory door opened.

His entire body was as stiff as a board. In his mind, if he stayed completely still, then whoever it was would ignore him and leave him be. That wasn't the case though. He craned his neck to see who the person was and was thankfully greeted with a cadet.

The cadet stood tall, but he was obviously upset with Garrus. Everyone knew where he was supposed to go and where he wasn't. He was thankful the commander wasn't the one to find him and was already prepared to beg this cadet not to say a word.

"I can explain-" Garrus began.

"The Captain wishes to speak with you," he said, then he turned away and left just as fast. 

Garrus was hesitant to go meet the Captain. He knew his punishment was going to be monumental and he wasn't even prepared for what his father was going to do when the news of this incident reached him.

He opted to take the stairs instead of the elevator to give him more time to think. He was trying to think of who saw him going into the armory, he made sure that he did it when no one else was around and he was within a blind spot of the cameras, no one should have seen him and yet.

As he approached the Captain, he thought about what he could say. What lies he could tell. How he could beg him not to tell his father. He was prepared to drop to his knees in front of him and make a complete fool of himself if it meant that he didn't have to hear his father's scolding.

"Garrus," the Captain said. 

The Captain was an extremely tall man, even for Turian standards, and he always spoke with pride and strength in his voice, but never once had he called him by his first name before. It was unusual, but he didn't say anything, afraid that he would make his already soon to be harsh punishment harsher.

"Yes, sir," he always spoke 'sir' at the end of his sentences to make them sound better and hopefully to gain more respect from the Captain.

"How old are you?"

"I'm fourteen, I'll be fifteen in a few weeks, sir," 

"That's good," The Captain said while placing a hand on Garrus' shoulder. Garrus tensed, but didn't pull away, it was by far the most casual thing the Captain had ever done to him, "I'm sure you're aware of our new guest."

Garrus shook his head, "No, sir, I'm not." 

He'd heard that they'd docked on a human farming planet to check out a colony after slavers came, but he didn't know anyone had come out of it. Even though he would've loved to talk about the mission with anyone who would give him any details, he used the mission to have a better shot at getting in the armory, seeing as most of the ground team would be gone.

"Well then, let's go meet her together," 

The Captain led him downstairs towards the medbay, all the while, Garrus was thinking about how this was possibly a trap, and after gaining his trust, the Captain would force him into one of the cells and make him clean it until the walls shone. But that didn't happen.

The medbay doors opened and they stepped in together, the captain walking ahead of him. The nurse nearly shot up from her seat when she saw him, Garrus thought that she was pretty, making his mandibles flutter. Both the Captain and the nurse gave him a look, and he forced his mandibles down with his hands.

The nurse and the captain talked for awhile, they were throwing around words like concussion and fracture, but Garrus wasn't really keeping up, and honestly, he wasn't trying to.

His eyes began to focus on the bed in the corner of the room. It was the only one in the entire med bay that wasn't empty, but it wasn't inhabited by another turian, but rather a human girl.

She was curled into a ball and she was releasing these sounds that made it sound like she was struggling to breath. Her face was damp with the water that was leaking from her eyes and her abnormal fringe was sticking to the water.

He looked up at the Captain who gave him a nudge in response, telling him to walk towards her.

Garrus did as he was told and the Captain followed closely behind until they both reached her. Her skin was pale, too pale. He'd seen humans before and he'd never seen one that looked so sickly, so close to death, not in real life at least.

Her big green eyes stopped leaking water and looked up at them. At him first, then at the Captain. She had this strange look on her face, one that he couldn't quite read. He wondered if she was afraid of them, or if she was still sad.

"Introduce yourself, boy," the Captain said, giving Garrus another nudge on the shoulder, now he was back to the Captain that he knew.

"I'm Garrus," he said slowly to the girl.

"I'm Jane," she said. Her voice sounded like music to him, a song he never wanted to end.

"Jane here has had a pretty difficult day," the Captain chimed in, "I'm sure she would appreciate someone her own age to keep her company."

He knew that there more turians that were young aboard the ship, turians that had finished basic quickly and were around the ages of sixteen and seventeen years. They weren't quite as young as he was, but it was close enough. So why him?

"Why not Velso or Porinus?" He asked, knowing that both boys were pretty young in age.

The Captain pulled him away from Jane's bed and into a corner, out of her ear shot. He knelt down so that Garrus could actually see his eyes and how the Captain almost seemed to be pleading with him.

"You want to be in the military, right, Garrus?" The Captain asked.

"More than anything, sir,"

"Well the military is more than just running around shooting guns. It's helping civilians in need, in any ways you can and there's a civilian over there in desperate need of your help,"

He opened his mouth again, prepared to ask why him, but the Captain cut him off quickly.

"Right now, she doesn't need a gunman or an engineer, she needs someone normal, someone closer to home. If I wanted Velso or Porinus, I would've asked them here, but I asked you,"

The task must have been extremely important to the Captain if he was asking Garrus to do it instead of telling him. He felt a sudden sense of importance, knowing that he was the only one that the Captain could entrust with this task. 

"What do you need me to do?" Garrus asked.

"Jane lost everything today and we need her to be strong until we can reach the Citadel, she won't be strong if her mind is set on what was lost today," the Captain explained, "I need you to cheer her up. Keep her distracted until we can get her better help."

"I'll do my best, sir," Garrus said, and the Captain straightened back to his regular height, not looking down at Garrus once more. He gave him another pat on his shoulder and Garrus promptly marched back over to her bed.

"Hello again," he said to her and she gave him a weak smile in response.

"Decindus," she called out to the Captain who was now leaving in her sweet, song like voice. Garrus had never heard anyone call the Captain by his first name, but the Captain just turned his head and gave her a soft turian smile, "I'm a little hungry."

"I'll have something brought out to you shortly," he said in the softest voice he'd ever heard. The Captain was already a very rough speaking man, so to hear him speak to her so softly was a surprise. It didn't even sound like him.

Garrus turned back to face Jane in awe, "I can't believe you did that."

"Did what?" She asked, her body tensed in fear that she'd actually done something wrong.

"I've never heard someone call the Captain by his first name before,"

Her shoulders relaxed, "That's what he told me to call him."

"I'd get murdered if I ever called him something other than Captain,"

Her eyes shifted at his choice of words and he took note of it, "You're just exaggerating," she said, her voice light.

"I wish," Garrus began with a scoff, "I stayed up past my curfew once and he forced me to clean the bathrooms all day!"

"All day?" She asked with the cock of an eyebrow.

"Well, not past curfew, but you get what I mean," 

"I didn't know military vessels had curfews," 

"They usually don't, but I'm not actually in the military or anything. Not yet at least. I'm here for Hierarchy Serve,"

"Hierarchy Serve?" She repeated it back like it was a question.

"It's where we take time out of our life to serve others, everyone has to do it," 

She started to speak, but before she could open her mouth, her stomach began to make this strange gurgling noise. He was taken aback by it, thinking that she had some sort of strange disease, but he knew that the Captain wouldn't put him in serious danger like that. Or, he was pretty sure that he wouldn't.

"Sorry," she said, her cheeks turned a shade of red, it was the first sign of color he'd seen on her pure white body, "I'm really hungry."

He tilted his head to the side in confusion, he had never heard of a human's body making that sound before, but it was a strange way to convey messages considering that fact that his sub vocals for hunger sounded completely different.

"Well you heard the Captain, we're getting some food made for you. I'm sure it'll make your body stop doing that weird thing,"

She looked at him and gave him this smile after he said this. It was a genuine smile, it made her eyes seem to light up and all he could do was look at her in disbelief. Something about the way she smiled made his shatter then build itself back up again. 

It was in that one moment that he decided that he would do whatever it took to see that smile again. He talked to her more, telling her stories and jokes to make her laugh. Her voice was angelic, her smile was like looking into a night sky full of stars.

They talked for what felt like hours. When the nurse came to check her vitals she was showing him a toothy grin while he talked about students in his school, when her food was brought down by the Captain, she was laughing about a joke that his father had told him, she tried to eat, but almost choked on her food from how hard she was laughing.

After she finished eating, she made a remark about how she was tired. He knew she would have to sleep soon and it was far past his curfew as well, but he had one final request.

"Can I touch your fringe?" He asked her.

"My fringe?" She asked dumbfounded.

"The stuff on your head,"

"Sure, if you want to,"

He reached a shaky hand out towards her head. He'd never touched a girl's fringe before, it was usually something only reserved for relationships, but he felt bold enough to ask. He'd heard all the other boys at his school bragging about touching a girls fringe before, now he had the opportunity to do so as well.

He slipped his hand into her hair. The strands were soft and flowed through his hands like water. When he reached the base of her scalp, her gave her light scratches against it, causing her to erupt into laughter. It wasn't the response he was expecting, but it was just as good.

He pulled away and she wiped a tear of joy from her eye, "Can I do yours now? It's only fair."

With a nod he leaned down closer to her. He felt that if he opened his mouth now, unnatural noises would come out and he would be unable to contain himself. 

Her hands were soft against his fringe, soft like the petals of a flower. It was different, he could barely feel the light touches, but he loved it. Purrs were rising up in his chest and he did his best to hold them back, seeing as the nurse was still somewhere nearby, but at the same time, it just felt so good. 

He nearly whined when her hand was pulled away but he didn't say anything. He just took that same hand into both of his and held it tight. He rubbed slowly circles on the back of her hands, feeling how soft her skin was, and she smiled at him, making his heart skip a beat.

"Good night, Garrus," she said in her song like voice. He was sad that she was going to sleep, meaning that he wouldn't be able to hear her sweet voice anymore or see her beautiful smiles, at least not until she awoke again.

"Night, Jane," he said back to her reluctantly, but he still kept his tight grip on her hand.

When she turned her head and finally fell asleep, he didn't move from his seat next to her, he didn't want to. There was something in him, this random urge he had to protect her and he didn't know where it was coming from. 

He was down there with her for another thirty minutes before the Captain came and told him to go to bed. He looked down at Jane's sleeping face, then back up at the Captain, his eye's pleading.

"Can't I sleep down here?" He begged quietly, so as not to disturb Jane.

"No, Vakarian," the Captain said, his voice just as harsh as usual, "I was informed that you broke into the armory today. I suggest that you get plenty of rest tonight in preparation for your punishment tomorrow."

He slowly stood from his chair, giving Jane's hand one last squeeze before he released it, letting it fall back to her side. He suddenly felt so cold when he let go. Like she was what contained all of his warmth. He whispered one last goodnight to her before he slowly approached the stairs.

Garrus turned to take one last look at her sleeping face before he left, with everything in him, he could safely say that he fell in love.


	3. Chapter 3

Her headache was much worse when she woke up and her foot was still throbbing. She'd grown used to the pain, although, she was ignoring it for most of the night. Who knew that pleasant conversation was all that she needed to help her forget that life as she knew it was over. 

When she turned to look at where Garrus had been sitting, she saw an empty chair. She didn't expect him to sleep there all night, but a side of her was still sad to see him gone. The colony didn't have many kids her age and she was also homeschooled, so it was nice to have someone to talk to. Even if they were completely different species and even if it was under some of the worst circumstances, it was nice to have a friend.

Her heart ached for her parents and she was prepared to begin sobbing again, but her eyes were dry. She was dehydrated and she had no more tears left to cry, so she sat in sorrow. 

She was hungry again, but didn't make an attempt to tell anyone, the ship seemed so busy and everyone was in a morning rush. She wouldn't have been able to go and find anymore either, not with her leg being the way that it was. She would just have to sit and wait for someone to remember that she existed. She wondered how long that would take.

She couldn't help, but to miss Garrus. Even if they were talking for what felt like hours, she had so much more she wanted to say, so much more that she wanted to do. He talked about how big and extensive the ship was and she wished she could see that, but she was confined to this one room. She hoped that maybe by some kind of magic, her foot would get better overnight and she’d be able to explore the ship with him, but she knew from they way that she woke up that was not going to happen.

The sound of someone walking down the stairs filled her ears and her eyes shot to see who it was. In her prayers it was Garrus, but the footsteps were far to be heavy to be his, heavy like an already large turian who also happened to be wearing armor.

It was Decindus, or the Captain as Garrus called him. A part of her hoped that she would see Garrus walking in awkwardly behind him like he'd done the night before, but she didn't get that satisfaction. It was just him and him alone.

He gave her his regular smile and sat down in the seat next to her, the seat that was for Garrus, or so she thought.

"Is everything alright?" He asked. He always had this way of speaking to her, it was very warm and fatherly, nothing like the way he spoke to everyone else. She'd heard the way he spoke to other people and it was terrifying. She felt that if he spoke to her the way he talked to everyone else, she’d start crying on the spot. Maybe that’s why he did it, because he pitied her.

"I'm a bit hungry,"

"As expected, we're having something be made for you right now," 

It took a while of him talking about what the ship was and what it was doing around her colony before she mustered up the courage to ask, "Where's Garrus?"

He stopped mid sentence, his eyes resting upon her, "Garrus got himself in quite a bit of trouble yesterday. He's being punished."

"Punished?" She repeated, unsure of whether or not she'd heard him correctly. If what Garrus had told her was true, then he was off doing some horrible, odd task, she could only imagine what.

He saw the worry in her eyes and he sighed. He wasn't just going to relieve Garrus of his punishments, he just wasn't that type of man, but she looked so abnormally sad about not being able to see him, especially since they'd only known each other for a few good hours. 

"He's okay," was all he could think to say, but Jane's facial expression didn't change.

She nodded and tried to focus on something else, anything else, but she just couldn't. Garrus was the only thing that seemed to keep her mind off of the pain. The pain that was in her foot, in her head, and in her heart.

She ate her breakfast slowly when it arrived and then she was informed that they'd arrived at the citadel. She'd heard of the Citadel, but could never dream of going, her parents wouldn't allow it, too much technology, too many people. But here she was, going against her parent's wishes. In her mind she was praying that they knew that this was the only place she could be safe. She couldn’t stay with the Turians, too dangerous and not enough food and Decindus said that the ship was going nowhere near earth. The Citadel was her best bet, for now.

Another turian carried her from the ship to a hospital on the citadel. A big hospital, bigger than anything she'd ever seen. It smelled like really strong medicine and everyone was moving, no one stopped not even for a moment. They couldn’t, too many lives to save.

The turian that held her wasn't too talkative and he didn't seem like he liked eye contact, but it helped that the Captain was with her the entire time. He stayed and talked to her even after she'd been placed in a room and was about to be treated. 

He didn't have to be there, but he was. Comforting her and soothing her when it hurt and it hurt a lot. Her foot was put into a brand new cast with a color of her choosing and she was excited to pick blue, like Garrus' clan markings and eyes. She couldn't wait to show it to him. He'd mentioned blue being his favorite color and she knew he'd love her cast.

When everything was said and done the Captain had to leave as he was called back for a mission. He said his goodbyes to her and before he had the chance to leave, she spoke one last question to him.

"What about Garrus?"

"I'll tell him you said goodbye,"

Her heart felt like it had dropped into her stomach. She suddenly felt so sick again, like she was going to vomit up.the food that she'd eaten. She wanted to see him one last time before she was shipped off to God knows where and she couldn't. 

She bit her lip to hold in the frustrated tears. She didn't want to yell at him, but it was taking a lot out of her to hold it in. What was she supposed to do without him, without her only friend?

Jane found the answer to her question as the many years went by. After Decindus had left, she stayed in the hospital for a week before they decided it would be better for her to be shipped off to earth. It was a lonely experience for her. Very few people spoke to her. It made her miss Garrus more.

She lived in an orphanage for three years before she realized that the time was coming soon, she was almost eighteen and she had nowhere to go. It was out of the question to stay any longer, the orphanage needed every single bed they could get their hands on for other kids, she couldn't take that away from them.

As far as goals and ambitions went, she didn't have any. Her only goal was to attempt to see Garrus again, but that wasn't easy since she was flat broke and didn't even know his last name. She'd learned over time that Garrus was an extremely popular Turian firstname and there thousands to look through. Her old little omni tool could barely hold all the search results of celebrities and soldiers that came up when she searched his name. It was no use.

She couldn't afford college and didn't have enough skills to work, all the arrows seemed to point towards the military. It should've been simple enough for her. She could run really fast and do a few good sit ups, obviously that wasn't everything that she needed, but it was a good start.

But there was just one thing holding her back. It was the guns. She hated the big guns that were used in the military. When ever she thought about them, her eyes would swell up with tears and her hands would shake. She would think of the batarians leaving their ship and firing off on everyone. Her friends, her family, everyone. 

It would be different if she were a biotic, but that wasn't the case. Her parents would let her near eezo and her mother wouldn't dare touch the stuff while pregnant, so Jane never developed biotic abilities. Biotics were the few people in the alliance who could go out without using guns biotics and tech specialist of course.

That's when a light bulb went off in her head. She could just be a tech specialist. She didn’t know much about tech, considering how she was raised. The only tech she'd ever known was a vid screen and her omni tool, t she had time to learn, it couldn’t be that hard, or so she hoped.

She had seven months until her eighteenth birthday. She hoped that was enough time to learn the ins and outs of tech, but there was no way to know for sure. She'd just have to test herself and keep testing herself.

So, she tinkered. She took things apart and put them back together. She built things from scratch. She spent most of her days in the local library, reading up on tech and sometimes on turian customs as well, only when she had the time.

Jane was normally a slacker, and average C grade student, but now, that wouldn’t cut it. She pulled her grades up in the little time she had, teachers were impressed, but she could care less about what they thought. She wasn't doing what she did to impress anyone, she was doing it because this was the only way to a better life.

She began training her body, running, push ups, pull ups, all the things that she would need to make it through basic. That was the hardest part: basic. If she could make it through that, she could make it through anything. All she had to do was keep pushing, so that she could see him again some day.


	4. Chapter 4

Even after all the years, it surprised her that the Citadel had the same smell. She remembered it so well that it even worried her, especially considering that the last time she’d been there she was fourteen years old. Nothing looked the same though. Everything changed on that front, with new technology coming out everyday, it was bound to look different, but the sounds and the smells, they were the exact same.

She never knew why she never came back to the Citadel after that day. Maybe it was because it brought back memories, memories of a time when she was little and weak. It made her remember that on the same day her parents died, she broke her foot, and she lost her first friend. She never forgot him, Garrus, but she never could find him again.

The Captain often visited her throughout her military career. She’d grown accustomed to calling him Captain as well as the years went on, rather than his first name like she used to. He’d retired at some point, but throughout the years of her training and climbing up the same military ranks that he had, he’d never gotten sick of hearing the same question: Have you heard anything about Garrus?

Apparently the captain was a good friend of Garrus’ dad, but he told her that after Garrus’ Hierarchy Serve was over, he never spoke to him again. He said that Garrus was angry because of the way the Captain had split them up after that fateful meeting, and she had to admit that she was a bit bitter too, but she couldn’t hold a grudge.

After everything that happened to her, after losing everything, the Captain was one of the few people who she felt comfortable around. She didn’t want to lose that as well, so she did everything to find Garrus again. It was hard with limited resources and an unwillingness to pay the shadow broker's absurd fees, so she made due with what she had. And thankfully, with the help of the Captain, she learned one more valuable thing. His last name. Vakarian, his name was Garrus Vakarian.

She smiled when she thought of the name. It was such a strong name, she could only imagine how strong he grew up to be. Her heart throbbed when she thought about seeing him again. Did he think of her too?

"We should go Commander," Kaidan said, "The council is waiting for us." 

"Right," she responded slowly.

Lost in the midst of her own thoughts, she'd almost forgotten that she had an important mission to do. Eden Prime wasn't going to avenge itself, neither was Nihlus or Jenkins.

She sighed when she thought of them. It was her first time ever losing someone and she was taking it harder than she should've. It wasn't her fault after all, but there was still this guilt that was eating at her. This guilt and this horrible feeling of panic. Similar to the one she felt on Mindoir all those years ago. The panic of losing someone you cared deeply about. She didn't think she'd ever feel that way again, but here it was. That same feeling. It was coming back to her all over again.

"I need more time!" She heard a voice shout, her ears perked up a bit, curious as to what the drama was, but she didn't dare look up at them, not at first. She had full intentions to just walk past without looking to see who the person was, so she kept her head down and her ears tuned into the conversation as she walked past.

"Just hear me out on this, stall them!" The angry voice had said.

Another voice spoke, this one calmer and more level headed, "You want me to stall the Council? It's over Vakarian, leave it alone."

Her heart skipped a few beats in her chest and she was positive that she'd stopped breathing for a moment. She'd stopped mid step, almost up the stairs to see the Council, but she felt like she had to look back. That name, that was his last name, wasn't it?

It couldn't have been that easy, and yet she had the full opportunity to see. Maybe it was another Vakarian, or maybe she just misheard. She turned on her heels and marched back in the direction of the argument. She had to know. Every bone in her body needed to know. If she didn't find out, she knew that she wouldn't be able to sleep.

"Everything alright, Commander?" Kaidan had asked her.

"Yeah, yeah, everything's fine," she said, basically brushing him off as she walked in the complete opposite direction of their objective.

"Well the Council chambers are that way," had she been looking at him, she would've seen that he was pointing towards the staircase, but she wasn't. Her mind was set on one mission: rounding that corner and seeing who was talking.

The voices got louder as she approached until she reached the very corner. She peeked her head around for just a moment and caught a glimpse of the life that she'd lost.

It was him. And if it wasn't him then it was someone who looked exactly like him. It was the same light grey plating and the same deep blue clan markings. The same piercing blue eyes, the same face. It was him.

He was drastically taller now than he was all those years ago. When they were younger, they would've been around the same height, but now, he was like a foot or so taller than her, and even from this distance, it was noticeable. His voice had deepened as well, it was so rich and smooth. She would've swooned had she not known who it was.

She wanted to know how to approach him. What could she say to him? He seemed so angry at the moment. Did he even remember her? Would he even want to talk to her? It'd been so long. Would he think it was creepy for her to have been longing to see him for so long?

That's when he finally looked away from the other man that he was yelling at. And his eyes locked on hers. And the entire galaxy seemed to freeze.

_

His day just wasn't going his way, neither was his week, or his month, or his life. Nothing was going his way.

He looked down at the plethora of paperwork and he sighed, he was literally living the life that he said he wouldn't when he was fourteen. He was doing exactly what his father wanted and there was nothing he could do about it. Everything was already in place. There was nothing he could do except watch the world spiral out of control in front of him. 

At times like this, times where he should've been working, he thought of Jane. The red haired girl with pale skin and the most perfect laugh. Somehow, she made the biggest impact on his life and she'd only been in it for a few hours. 

She was one of the first girls that he felt that way about, and while he had feelings for other women throughout his life, they were never as strong. Who knew that a girl he met at the hormonal age of fourteen would be the love of his life? After all, it was his first fringe touch. He couldn't wait to go home and brag to his friends about that. How a girl touched his fringe and he touched hers in return. 

They all said that it didn't count because she was a human, but it counted to him. Because it impacted him in a way that he could never describe.

Every bone in his body was desperate to sleep in the bed beside her that night, to hold her warm hand all night long and to wake up and see he looking better and less sick, but things don't always go to plan. He was dragged out of the medbay by the Captain and forced to sleep in his own bed.

Somehow, the bed felt colder. He never struggled with sleeping in that room before, but now he was freezing, like all the warmth he ever had was inside Jane, like he had to get back to her to ever be warm again.

He didn't sleep peacefully that night. He barely slept at all and waking up that next morning was dreadful. He was so drowsy, so exhausted, but he was so ready to see Jane again. How long could his punishment last? If he finished it fast, he could spend the rest of the day with Jane.

But things don't work like that. They never work out like that.

Captain forced him to scrub the floors of the entire ship on his hands and knees. It wasn't too bad, it was actually rather tame compared to his other punishments. But when he approached the Captain, jumping for joy, ready to tell him that he'd finished his task, the Captain took one look at the floor then back up at him.

"You missed a spot," he'd say, "Do it again."

So he did it again. Cleaning the entire floor on his hands and knees with only a rag and a bucket, but he did it. Making sure not to miss a spot again so that he could see Jane, the only thing that kept him working so hard was Jane, but when he approached the Captain, he heard the same thing.

"Do it again,"

So he did it again, and again, and again. The floors were so clean that you could look in them like a mirror and see your reflection. The Captain only let him stop when the other crew members kept slipping on the freshly cleaned floors whenever they tried to walk anywhere.

He anxiously approached the Captain, "Can I go see Jane now?" He asked happily, even though the Captain had him working like a slave. He didn't mind though. Jane was waiting for him. He'd do it all again for her.

"No, Vakarian, she's gone," The Captain said flatly.

"Gone?" Garrus questioned, "Gone where?"

"She's at the hospital, she won't be coming back,"

"Well can't I go see her before we leave?" He begged, knowing that they would be still docked at the citadel for at least another hour to refuel.

"No,"

It was in that very moment that his resentment of the Captain grew. He was so ready for his Hierarchy Serve to be over so that he'd never have to see that man again. Every time he looked at his face, he thought about Jane. About how he might not ever be able to see his friends face again because of her. He didn't care if he was one of father's friends and he didn't care if he was a high ranking official. He'd never speak to the Captain again. And he never did.

Somehow, all those things led him on the path to C-sec, right where his father wanted him.

It was a boring job with too many rules and little to no action. Until the case of Saren appeared on his desk. 

It was something to keep him busy at first, a conspiracy theory to make the time go by faster. He studied it often, almost like a hobby. And then it was more. As he read into it, he saw the red flags. He saw how certain crimes were pointing to him. He saw how easily Saren could brush off his crimes. He saw it all. All he needed was a little more evidence and a little more time.

That's how he ended up here. Arguing with his boss, begging for anything to keep the Council busy. 

He was prepared to storm off, prepared to lock himself in his office and to keep studying the case of Saren even after his superiors to him to stop. This case wouldn't stop until Saren was behind bars, or dead. Both sounded good. He was prepared to do that, until he saw her. 

A pair of green eyes peeking out from beyond the corner. Bright red hair, tan skin that was once pale. He saw her and his world stopped.

They locked eyes for what felt like hours, but in actuality, it was only a few seconds. But for those few seconds, it felt like they were the only two people in the entire citadel, in the galaxy even. The Citadel around her seemed too quiet, there was no noise. Just her breathing and her heartbeat.

Kaidan was saying something to her off in the distance, but her mind barely registered it. His voice sounded muffled, like he was underwater. She didn't hear him, she didn't want to hear him. Everything she wanted was right in front of her, and by the looks of it, he felt the same.

She took a hesitant step forward, her legs felt like jello, but her body felt so heavy at the same time. It was like she didn't want to move, but she had to hold him, she had to know what he felt like in her arms after all these years. Were his hands still as warm as they were that day, did he still smell the same? She had to know.

He approached her as well, brushing past the other turian that he was talking, ignoring the man as he yelled something to him. Slow steps towards each other turned to full on running, sprinting, until they reached each other. 

She jumped into his arms, their armor making a satisfactory clink when they hit each other. He squeezed her so tight she felt like she felt like she was going to burst while he lifted her into the air and she did her best to squeeze back. She never wanted to let go again. 

Her eyes welled up with tears and she couldn't keep them from spilling out from her eyes. Her tears soaked his face, but he didn't seem to care, just nuzzled his face gently into her neck. He whispered something softly into the crook of her neck that she couldn't quite make out, but she knew those words were filled with love.

"This can't be real," she whispered between soft sobs, all the while, her fingers were lightly digging into his plating, just to make sure he was still really there and this wasn't just a very intense, extremely realistic dream. She tended to have those a lot, but none to this degree.

He tensed when she spoke, her voice was still like a song. A sweet song that he never wanted to end. He could listen to it forever. 

"It's real, Jane," he spoke her name like a prayer, "It's real."

Their universe came crashing down when she heard the sound of someone clearing their throat. She turned to look back at the sound and was greeted by Kaidan and Ashley, both of whom looked fairly upset with her.

Awkwardly, she pushed her hand against Garrus' strong chest, getting him to release her and drop her gently back onto the floor. 

With one final look in his eyes, she turned to face her crew. She didn't want to face them, now when everything she needed was right in front of her. She couldn't bring herself to turn away from him.

"You know him?" Ashley asked while looking the turian up and down, her distaste for aliens was already showing.

Her cheeks flushed when she thought about the fact that she barely knew Garrus. They spent one night together at the ripe age of fourteen and after that they never interacted again, and yet she was willing to throw herself into his arms and he was willing to hold her.

She looked up into his blue eyes and this sense of nostalgia washed over her, the same feeling that she felt when she'd walk back into her home after a long day of just staring at the sky. It was a feeling of being home, a feeling of belonging, "Yeah," she mumbled quietly, "I do know him."

"I hope you do, especially with that scene you just put on," Kaidan piped up. His voice had this certain edge to it, one that sounded angry.

Garrus let out an awkward laugh, "We just haven't seen each other in a while, is all."

"Well, we should be going now, Commander, the Council doesn't like to wait," Kaidan attempted to pull her back in the direction of the Council chambers, but Garrus took a strong hold of her other wrist. They had her pulled apart like two parents fighting for custody.

"You're seeing the Council?" He asked, "For what?"

"Rogue spectre," she shrugged.

"Saren?" Garrus questioned, dumbfounded.

"Yeah," Shepard responded, "How did you know?"

"I've been working on the same case. It's what I was trying to talk to my boss about,"

Her mouth went dry and her heart began to beat fast. They were working on the same case. It had to be fate or destiny or something like that. It had to be this one thing that drew them together again.

"May I come with you?" He asked shyly.

"Sorry, but that's against alliance-" Kaidan began to speak, but she quickly cut him off.

"Sure,"

_

The entire Council hearing was filled with awkward side glances and small smiles towards one another. If it wasn't for how important this meeting was, they might have made silly faces towards each other in an attempt to make the other laugh. He had this way of looking at her. It felt almost primal, but it made her feel safe.

She knew that the Council wasn't going to believe what she had to say about Saren, but with Garrus by her side, she wasn't as upset as she normally would've been. Normally, she would've thrown a fit. Screaming about how biased they were and how they hated humans, but she couldn't. She didn't want to. She felt a sense of calm when she looked at him, one that couldn't be matched by anyone else in the entire galaxy.

When they left the Council's chambers, they took the time to catch up and talk as they made their way towards their next clue. Both of them were pretty hellbent on bringing Saren down, but it felt good to not be doing it alone. She felt like Kaidan and Ashley were only following her because they felt like they had to, but with him, it was different. He had this sense of justice, this was something he needed to do.

"You wouldn't believe how common of a name Jane is," he said with an awkward chuckle afterwards.

She nodded, "Trust me, I believe you. It's the same with Garrus, pretty common."

"So, you did look for me afterwards?"

"Every single day,"

She stopped herself when she realized just how creepy she sounded. It took a lot of mental cursing to remind herself that they'd only met once before. Even if that fated meeting impacted her life heavily, she couldn't just ask like a weirdo towards him because of it. 

"And to think I'd been here the entire time," he said with a chuckle.

"Really?" She questioned, "What about the military and the spectres?"

He turned his head away from her, staring off at something in the distance, "I guess I just couldn't do it."

"Hey Commander," Kaidan called, butting his way into their conversation, "I think we should track down that next clue, huh?"

Jane nodded slowly.

"You coming?" She asked him with a small smile towards him. 

His world felt like it had meaning to it once again, like all the warmth and color thay had gone with her had just come flowing back to him. Forget C-sec, forget his father, forget the rules, forget everything. She was here. He could do whatever he wanted.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world,"

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't been really happy with how my stories have been going recently, so I've decided to rewrite them, starting with my favorite.


End file.
